Maiors

Yuseff XXXIX

I drifted in and out of slumber for the next few days, replaying the events on Sinai over and over again in my head. I could hear Fatima and Jahmal training topside. They continued on. With the speed of this ship, it would take us a few weeks before we reached Deupoint. The Bahr Sea is just a small portion of the massive Tobi Ocean. I guess time was best spent training. Fatima was working her best to control that power she awakened in her fight against Alexander. [While also trying to pull out the power Jahmal had waiting inside him.]

I couldn't bring myself to train like the others. That fight with Kassandra drained too much out of me. I know she used her power on me, but it doesn't negate the fact that I was afraid of her in the first place. I had made up my mind, I was going to make her pay for all the torture she put me through. I cried to myself every day, dreaming of turning the tables on her.

But I couldn't

I froze. I backed away. What was wrong with me? And now. I barely ate. Didn't care to wash. Hell, I spent the majority of my time lying in bed. All I could do was just be alone with my thoughts.

I looked down at my bandaged body. The burns from the explosion were healed, but my bullet wounds from Kassandra's gun were still aching me. At least I knew I could still feel something.

I reached over to my dresser and pulled out a letter Fatima had given me the day after we left Sinai. It was a letter Aaliyah had sent Amir, meant for me. After I was kidnapped, Amir approached my sister. She told her how I was captured and what was to come next.You see, the Vasilikos really hate the Orphans and anyone who'd sympathize with them. When an Orphan is captured and sent to execution, their family is sent there as well. They use it as a deterrent.

She, Shafiq, Farah and Hassir had to flee the country. Amir had promised her that she'd try her best to rescue me, but at the moment, my family's lives were more important. She smuggled them out of the country and sent them up north to Kaseo. The country was well known to grant asylum to refugees. She sent me this letter not long after she arrived there:

My Beloved Baby Brother,

It's been three weeks since we fled from Khito. The journey here was long, but necessary. Not a day goes by that we don't think of you. Hassir keeps asking when 'Yuey' will come back to live with us. We haven't seen anything in regards to an execution or sentencing. So we pray, and are hopeful Amir rescued you. Please, please be safe. We are in Kaseo now, a small town called Chantico. The people here are nice. I think you would like it here. I know the next few months getting on our feet will be hard, but they have people here to help us with that. So don't worry about us. Just please Yuseff. Please be okay. Write back to us soon.

Love you always,

Aaliyah...

I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. My poor sister, my family. They didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve to have to uproot their entire lives because of me. I prayed they would have a better life in Kaseo. I made a silent promise to write her back as soon as I stepped foot in Deupoint.

Knock... Knock... Knock...

Ymir entered my room.

"Hey." he said, "How 'ya feeling?"

"You know." I sighed, "Eh.."

"I getcha." he said, sitting down next to me, "You missed the briefing this morning."

"I'm sorry." I said, "It's just, I-"

"Don't worry about it." he said, "I came down here to fill you in." He pulled some papers from his satchel.

"Take a look at these."

He handed me the small pile.

"What's this?" I asked.